Terran Eyes: ESB
by LiterateSamwise
Summary: The continued adventures of Cor Wynt in the Star Wars universe. Years after ANH, Cor is a pilot and living the life. But the Battle of Hoth sends him spiraling. What does the galaxy have in store now?
1. Ice Box

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, good old George Lucas has that honor. He pretty much owns anything you recognize in this fic. So, please, no one sue me. Enjoy the fic and remember to review!  
  
A/N: Here is the sequel to Terran Eyes: A New Hope. Basically, this is the continued adventures of Cor Wynt. Action, Romance, Imperials and Prison Cells... Enjoy.  
  
  
  
Star Wars:  
  
Terran Eyes  
  
The Empire Strikes Back  
  
by Tatt Skywalker  
  
Part One: Ice Box  
  
"Can you believe this?" Zall complained as he poured an inch of snow out of his boot. "There was hardly any snow back home."  
  
Jaylee scoffed. "Hardly any? I'm from Tatooine! You know, the planet with sand and two suns?"  
  
"Blast off," the third companion muttered pulled off one of his own boots and dumping it out. "Complaining isn't going to help us get any warmer."  
  
"It might," Zall defended.  
  
De-snowed but no more warmer, the three friends walked into the Echo Base pilots' mess. Why it was called the pilots' mess, no one knew. It wasn't as if it were exclusively for pilots. The base was too small with too many people to be selective about you ate where. Except in the case of the generals and such. They got their own mess.  
  
Not that anyone was complaining, of course. They loved their leaders. They respected their privacy and knew a private mess was in their best intrests. It was guarded and had an emergancy escape route straight through to the hangers. It was better to keep them safe than worry about anyone else. Pilots can be replaced. Great generals cannot.  
  
"Hope they're serving something... worth eating," Jaylee said as the three of them entered the mess.  
  
"Don't count on it," someone said from their right.  
  
They all turned.  
  
"Hey, Commander Skywalker," Zall said in greeting. "Heading out on check?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah, not that there is anything out there living."  
  
Cor grinned. "Not enough life out there to fill a starcruiser."  
  
Luke laughed and said, "I'll see you guys when I get back."  
  
The three of them nodded and watched him go. As they walked over to the serving line, he couldn't help but wonder if this was the one. They'd all been on checks but was this the last one any of them would go on? Would Luke not come back? Would the Imperials have found them by morning? He hated the Empire Strikes Back because it made the Rebels look bad. Now he wished he had paid attention to it. Cor knew it would be time to run soon.  
  
Zall handed Cor a tray and the three of them sat down at one of the tables. Hoth was an ice planet and most of the planet was ice... even the pilots' mess tables.  
  
Cor took a knife and cut into the green packet on his tray. "I hope we go to Tatooine next," he said. "Somewhere where we don't have to drink insulated caf."  
  
"You don't want to go to Tatooine," Jaylee said. "The stuff'll evaporate there!"  
  
"Little Jay-Jay isn't homesick?" Cor chided and ruffled his friend's hair.  
  
Jaylee pushed him away. "Oh, shove off. Why'd I want to back to that sand dune?"  
  
"You have a home to go back to," Zall said sadly. "Don't take it for granted."  
  
The two of them looked at their younger companion. Though he looked nearly the same age as the others, Zall Ventao was actually only fifteen. He'd been thirteen when he had enlisted in the Imperial Navy and only thirteen when he had jumped ship for the Rebel Alliance after the destruction of his homeplanet of Alderaan. Like so many on both sides of the line, he'd lied about his age to get in on the action and after the actions of the Empire, decided to change to the other side. Of the three of them, he'd been through the most. Atleast, as far as Zall and Jaylee believed.  
  
They were silent for a moment. "Well... I *am* going back," Jaylee said to break the silence. "I got approved leave. I'm leaving in four days."  
  
"You didn't tell us you were trying for leave!" Cor exclaimed. "We'd have gotten off to go with you!"  
  
Jaylee grinned. "You *are* off," he said. "And... I'd like it if you came with me. I mean, I told my mom all about you Zall. She'll have cookies all set out for you 'poor dear'."  
  
Zall blushed.  
  
"But I'll understand if you want to go try and visit your family, Cor," he continued. "You don't talk of them much but..."  
  
Cor shook his head. What else would he do with leave but go with them? Everyone thought his family lived on Corellia, something he had led them all to believe. Because how you tell your friends that you're from another galaxy? That your family and old life is in another part of the cosmos?  
  
You don't.  
  
"I got nowhere else to go and you know it," he said. Then to Zall: "And some of those cookies are mine, hear?"  
  
Both of the others grinned.  
  
"How we leaving?" Cor asked Jaylee.  
  
"Well, I rented a ship for us," he answered. "Can't go flying around in an X-Wing. Not with the Empire and the Hutts around that place."  
  
Zall nodded and said, "We've got four days to figre it out.  
  
"That's right," Cor said with a grin. "So come on, I got a surprise for you."  
  
Discarding the contents of his tray, he took off running for the hangar bay.  
  
***  
  
"This is great Dirk!" Cor exclaimed as his pitt droid pulled out a pair of metallic fashioned sleds. Around the edges where the metal would have been slick and sharp, the droid had placed plastic casing. He couldn't want to try them out. "Better than I ever thought it'd be, you've earned yourself a good oil bath.  
  
The little droid chittered in glee.  
  
"But, now, go check on Cred, would ya?" the boy asked of the droid. "I think some of his circuits are froze. I need to get you guys looked at. This planet is murder on your systems.  
  
Dirk nodded and ambled off for the pilots' quarters.  
  
"Cor!" Jaylee and Zall shouted and ran up out of breath. "What's this big sur- Wow!"  
  
He grinned. "Dirk built them. What do you think?"  
  
"Wizard!" shouted two little voices in unison.  
  
The three pilots turned around. Standing behind them were a nine year old girl and six year old boy. The three friends were well aquainted with the two kids, they were Ayn and Ru Shine - the children of Ground Force Commander Adbag Shine. When you stick two kids in the middle of an insurrection, there is bound to be strong feelings between the kids and the men.  
  
Not that most of the men actually counted as men.  
  
That was perhaps the reason Ayn and Ru were so close to the pilots, techies and the rest. If you went by numerical age, there was little space between them. But experience wise... the Rebel youth were well beyond their years. They found solstice in the peace of playtime with the kids.  
  
"Wanna go for a ride?" Cor asked them and grinned at their eager nodds. "Well, then let's go guys. Best make use of this Force forbidden ice box while we can!"  
  
The five of them raced for the hangar bay doors. They waved to the senteniel so he knew they were going out and not to lock up without letting them back in.  
  
"Hey guys!" they heard Wedge Antilles shout. "Where you going?"  
  
"Come on Wedge!" Jaylee yelled back. "Come sledding with us!"  
  
"Sledding?"  
  
Zall and Jaylee ran back and frog-walked their fellow pilot out the bay doors. Dack Rivers and Mersi Canlisa walked over with grins on their faces. "Been over powered Wedgie-boy?" Mersi laughed.  
  
"You wanna come, too?" Ru asked the other two pilots. "We're gonna go sled."  
  
When you have a rebellion made up of little kids, chaos insues. Dack and Mersi jumped at the chance to go sledding, dragging Hobbie, Praj and Clia - another pilot, a techie and a slicer.  
  
So they set out, all eleven of them.  
  
***  
  
Dug around the base were trenches manned by the Ground Forces commanded by Commander Shine. Most of them were dug in with slops in the front to hinder attacking forces. However, one section past the South Entrance, slopped on both sides. Being as Ayn and Ru were not allowed to go past the trenches, this was the best place fot the bunch of them to go.  
  
It was a sight. Nine grown Alliance soldiers and two little kids climbing up the trenches and jumping on to sleds and slidding this way and that.  
  
With only two sleds, they had to turn to other alternatives.  
  
"Praj, hand me your laser cutter," Cor said. The techie slid down the slop on his backside and dug through a bag he had down there. He then scrambled back up and handed the L shaped object to him.  
  
Cor swung himself to the other side of the trench and flicked the ignitor.  
  
"What are you doing?" Clia Amzis asked.  
  
Without answering her question, Cor cut an oval in the ice and then cut at an angle. Seconds later, he pulled up a thin slab of ice.  
  
With a hoot of enthusiasm, he hopped on to the ice and began slidding down the side of the slope. It worked just like he had hoped, just like a normal sled.  
  
"You're crazy, Cor!" several of the others called to him.  
  
He just shrugged.  
  
In the end, Hobbie and Clia ended up rushing back into the bas to retrive pieces of cardboard boxes from the storage areas. This allowed everyone to go down at their own times.  
  
"What's all this?" a woman asked from the slope below.  
  
In a moment of clumsiness and classic moronic behavior, Cor slipped down the slope... leaving his ice-sled up at the top.  
  
When he looked up, he found himself peering into the eyes of Princess Leia. He immediatley took to blushing and stood up in respect.  
  
The princess just grinned and said, "Carry on fly-boy."  
  
After she left, the others hollered down at he in humor. Cor just truged up the slope and got on his sled. That hadn't been good. Now he felt even more immature in the eyes of his idol.  
  
Yes, over the three years that had passed, Cor had grown from fourteen years old to eighteen years old... almost nineteen! And since the briefing on Yavin 4, he'd had a crush on the princess.  
  
//She must think I'm an idiot// he thought.  
  
"She doesn't," Ru whispered in his ear before slidding down he slop again.  
  
Cor was about to ask Ru what he meant. There wasn't possibly a way the boy was addressing his thoughts but...  
  
"Ayn! Ru!"  
  
Commander Shine came out of the South Entrance. "There you two are!"  
  
The two children ran over to their father and hugged him. Then they began to jump up and down, telling him all about their sledding and Cor's ice sleds and how he almost hit Princess Leia.  
  
Shine grinned and looked up at the once again red Cor.  
  
"Thanks for looking after them," he said to the young pilot.  
  
"It was nothing," Cor called back down. "We enjoyed it."  
  
The others all nodded or voiced their agreement.  
  
"Still, thanks."  
  
The man and his two kids walked back into the base, the children shouting back good-byes to their older friends. The young rebels all waved back.  
  
"I get one of the sleds!" Cor yelled after the three were out of sight.  
  
***  
  
"That was great, Cor," Zall said as they walked back into the base an hour later. "Really! I haven't had that much fun since that speeder bike race on Mallastare!"  
  
Jaylee nudged him in the side. "Keep it quiet! I'm not sure that was a hundred percent legal."  
  
The other pilot laughed and grinned. "Come on, let's go get some caf. And Cor, you're never go live hitting the Princess down."  
  
"I didn't hit her!" he shouted in his defense as the three friends went for caf.  
  
"I didn't!"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Okay, here's the sequel. Begining sucks but then, i sled every day after school (I"M NOT ASHAMED TO ADMIT IT!) so that is where this came from. Yeah. So... REVIEW! And Look forward to another chapter in...  
  
  
  
TERRAN EYES: The Empire Strikes Back 


	2. Rescue Patrol

Part Two: Rescue Patrol  
  
"I'm out," Clia said, tossing down her hand. "I've got to save *some* of my pay. What little it is, gotta send something back home."  
  
Another player complained, "I'm with Clia. I *need* this money. If I knew how one sided this game would be, I'd have played someone else."  
  
"Come on guys," Cor Wynt said. "You love me. You'd never play anyone else."  
  
"Yeah, better to lose to someone you trust?" Praj asked sarcastically. "Get out of here. This is table's closed. Don't care where you go, but you can't stay here."  
  
Hobbie grinned. "Come on bar keep," he whined playfully. "One more round?"  
  
The technician whacked his friend on the head and ushered the group out of his room. "Good Night, everyone. This Rebel knows where he's going."  
  
"Kessel, when they find out about this gambling joint in your room?" Jaylee joked.  
  
"Ha ha," came the other man's reply. "Get out of here Nerf Herder."  
  
"And damn proud of it!" Jaylee shouted as Praj closed his door.  
  
Cor stuck the bag of credits he had won playing sabaac into his pocket. "Really guys. Get on the ball. I could have you whole paycheck in one night."  
  
"Then you'd be buying me breakfast the next morning," Hobbie joked.  
  
"Or tossing you scraps," Zall jested. "Not much different from what they feed us here, though."  
  
The lot of them shared a good laugh.  
  
"If we were on Corellia..." Hobbie began.  
  
"We'd all be drunk, my winnings pickpocketed and we'd be shot on sight by Imps," Cor said. "Sound 'bout right?"  
  
Jaylee nodded. "But then we'd have girls, too. You got enough creds to have attracted some."  
  
Cor looked to Clia. "Intrested?"  
  
She laughed. "That'd be the day!"  
  
He began to protest loudly and continued as they walked. Cor didn't stop once she had been dropped off at her quarters either. As they walked through the base, dropping off each member of the group, he loudly protested her statement.  
  
"Cor," Jaylee, the last one, said. "Shut up. Go to bed."  
  
His friend grumbled something under his breath but bid Jaylee a good night. Then he walked, ego shattered, towards his own quarters. However, Cor never made it there. He noticed several people running towards the hangers.  
  
"Hey!" he shouted, see Wedge amongst them. "What's going on?"  
  
"Commander Skywalker didn't check in earlier," the other pilot told him. "Solo went after him, but he hasn't come back either!"  
  
"What are you planning on doing?" Cor asked. "It's too cold to go out, now."  
  
He sighed. "I know... everyone knows. Still, we're suiting up. I'm going out at first light. Three hours to go. Might as well get ready now."  
  
"I'll go out," he volunteered. "Can't leave our guys out to die on this hellish planet."  
  
Wedge nodded. "Come on, suit up. You can go out with me. I needed a co- pilot anyways."  
  
"Great," Cor said. "Count me in."  
  
***  
  
The small group of assembled pilots waited together for three hours, hoping against hope that Skywalker and Solo would soon enter and no rescue would be needed. Of them all, Cor was visibially the most calm. He told everyone to have faith, but in truth, he knew something they didn't.  
  
Skywalker and Solo would be fine.  
  
Having drifted off for a few moments, Cor was awakened by the urgent shaking of Wedge Antilles. "Come on. We're going out."  
  
Shaking the sleep from his head, the younger pilot stood and followed Wedge to one of the snowspeeders. Wedge hoped in front, leaving his friend to grab the back seat. That didn't matter to Cor, as long as they were able to find these guys. Sure, he knew they would be fine and found alive, but still... it was as if urgency had slipped into his veins, compelling him to rush to their aide just as everyone else.  
  
"This is Rogue Two, heading out," Wedge said into the headset. In front of them, the hanger doors slid open and Wedge took the speeder out.  
  
Cor fiddled with a thermal scanner, setting it to check as thoughly as possible.  
  
"Any sign of them?" Wedge asked.  
  
"Not yet," Cor answered. "Don't worry. They're fine."  
  
"You're optimistic." He called out over the radio, "This is Rogue Two. Captain Solo, so you copy? This is Rogue Two."  
  
Nothing.  
  
"Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rouge Two."  
  
He nodded though from the front seat, Wedge couldn't see him. "This is Luke Skywalker and Han Solo we're talking about. These guys took out a Death Star. The elements aren't nothing compared to that."  
  
"I hop you're right."  
  
"Captain Solo, Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rouge Two."  
  
Cor called up to him, "Swing a right, we haven't checked that way-"  
  
There was a faint crackle of static on the radio.  
  
"Good morning. Nice of you guys to drop by."  
  
Some how, Cor *saw* Wedge grin, despite being behind the other man.  
  
Wedge changed channels and reported, "Echo Base...this is Rouge Two. I found them. Repeat, I found them."  
  
Down below, Cor could see Solo waving to them. Wedge took the snowspeeder on a sweep around, taking in the layout of the area, then landed a few meters from him. Cor grabbed the heated wraps that had been tossed in the back and jumped out of the cockpit as the top raised up.  
  
"Boy am I glad to see you guys," Han Solo greeted them. "Took you long enough."  
  
The two pilots grinned. "Here," Cor said, drapping one of the blackets over his shoulders. Then he and Wedge entered Han's makeshift shelter. They lifted Luke up and wrapped one of the blankets around him. He muttered a few incoherent words and Wedge said, "Hang on, Buddy."  
  
Coming out, Cor looked to Han. "They're gonna have you teaching survival classes," he said. "Pulling something like this off!"  
  
"You pick somethings up over the years," he responded.  
  
Cor nodded. Three years in the Star Wars galaxy and he was a regular. There had been something about the place that had just... made everything come natural. From flying to mechanics - somehow, he could do it all. Whatever it was, it helped him maintain his "smuggler's son" image. Smugglers picked up on everything, so did he.  
  
As long as he could keep up that image, everything would be fine.  
  
"They're sending out a transport!" Wedge shouted to them from the speeder. "Ten minutes!"  
  
"Well, make yourself at home, kid," Han told him. "I'd offer food and drink but... we don't restock for a while."  
  
The younger man opened up his front pocket and pulled out some dried fish strips. It doesn't sound that good, but it was one of the best things you could get on Hoth. He handed the package to Han. "Figured you be hungry."  
  
"Thanks, kiddo," he said, tearing into the plastic.  
  
"No problem," Cor replied. "No problem."  
  
***  
  
"Hey!" Zall and Jaylee shouted as the speeder canopy opened. The two pilots took off their helmets and placed them down on their seats. Cor was the first out, soon met by his friends.  
  
"We were looking all over for you!" Zall exclaimed. "Coulda told us you went out."  
  
He grinned, looking at Jaylee's crossed arms. "Miss me?"  
  
Jaylee glared. "We were worried, okay?"  
  
"Sorry," Cor told them. "Sorry. I didn't want to wake you guys up."  
  
"Good job, Corie-Boy!" Clia shouted, coming over. "Heard you found 'em. Hero of the day!"  
  
Quickly, he shook his head. "I didn't find them," he told her. "Wedge found 'em. I was just along for the ride. 'Sides, he would have found 'em had I been there or not. Go drool over him."  
  
She nodded. "Don't mind if I do, then."  
  
Jaylee watched as she went. Cor grinned. "Jaylee!" he exclaimed in mock astonishment. "Clia?"  
  
His friend went red.  
  
Zall began to laugh. "I knew it!" he shouted. "Ha! Jaylee and Clia honeymooning on Tatooine!"  
  
Redder, he quickly told each of them to can it. "She'll hear you guys!"  
  
"Exactly the point," Cor told him and took off across the deck. "Hey! Clia! Wait up!"  
  
"I'm so going to get you Wynt!" Jaylee growled, running after him. "You say anything and I'm gonna burry you, I swear it!"  
  
Two hours later, Jaylee and Clia were sitting down in the pilots' mess together. Zall and him sat across the mess watching them with big smiles across their faces. "Atleast one of us can find love," Cor said. "With a little help."  
  
"My poor lonely, loveless friends," Praj said, sitting down with them. "How's everything going? How's Deighton doing?"  
  
Cor motioned for him to take a look. "No kissing... yet."  
  
Praj grinned. "Jaylee and Clia... never woulda seen it coming. Not jealous, guys?"  
  
They shook their heads. "Hey, one of us is getting lucky," Zall said. "Besides, who wants to fall in love with a kid like me?"  
  
"I could find someone fo-"  
  
"NO!" Zall exclaimed loudly. "Not gonna let you try that again."  
  
Cor began laughing so hard his chest began to hurt. His friend hit him but he still didn't stop. With a red face, Zall got up and left.  
  
"Aww... the poor boy," Praj joked. Then, he looked to Cor. "A game of Sabaac?"  
  
"Ready to lose again?"  
  
"I won't lo- yes."  
  
"Then you're on," Cor said. "Come, loveless brother. Us bachlors must stick together!"  
A/N: Crappy... but more a filler chapter. Seriously, I began writing Chapter three before Chapter two was even a concept. But then I decided to stick it in there. Like it, hate it... REVIEW! 


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